Barr won’t recuse himself from Mueller oversight

Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign, a Justice Department spokeswoman said Monday.

Barr’s confirmation for a second stint as attorney general was complicated by the disclosure that he had written a 19-page memo last June expressing deep skepticism about aspects of Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

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During his confirmation hearing, Barr refused to say whether he would recuse from any role in Mueller’s probe. Although he also rebuffed Democrats by declining to pledge to follow whatever advice ethics officials gave him on the issue, Barr was confirmed last month by a vote of 54 to 45 in the Senate.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Monday that Barr had decided to assume the role overseeing Mueller’s inquiry and that the department’s ethics team concurred.

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“Following General Barr’s confirmation, senior career ethics officials advised that General Barr should not recuse himself from the Special Counsel’s investigation,” Kupec said. “Consistent with that advice, General Barr has decided not to recuse.”

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller following former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal in 2017, is expected to leave the department later this month. Trump fired Sessions in November.

Until he leaves, Rosenstein will remain in the hierarchy overseeing Mueller, a Justice official said Monday. Trump has announced plans to nominate Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Rosen to fill that slot, but another official could be named to the post on an acting basis.

One former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, criticized Barr’s decision.

“The most important reason for Barr to recuse is not the ethics rules but the illegitimacy of his predecessor’s firing for refusing to stop an investigation of POTUS,” Shaubwrote on Twitter. “Do not misread the ethics officials as having weighed in on that issue. They did not.”